The new cover still features Mara Jade, and while it does look a little like something from a video game, it looks more like actual cover art than a particularly awkward screenshot. (And slightly anime-flavored? Bonus: Sleeves!) In any case, I’ll give this a hearty UPGRADE. Continue reading →

Del Rey, via suvudu.com, is hosting a contest for a chance to win lunch with Timothy Zahn and editor Shelly Shapiro on July 23 in San Diego. What’s better than some ysalamiri tacos? Contest deadline is this Thursday, and is open to anyone who is going to be in San Diego during Comic-Con.

Fate of the Jedi. While we were in Columbus, two Ascension excerpts emerged: One long, one short. It’s out in August. Huh.

What in the what? If you really love blueprints — I mean REALLY love blueprints — then you’ve probably already jumped for joy about Star Wars: The Blueprints, since it was also announced last week sometime. As always when it comes to this collector edition stuff, I shrug.

StarWars.com has released a PDF excerpt of Choices of One, the upcoming novel by Timothy Zahn. Set eight months after the Battle of Yavin, Luke, Leia and Han are headed to meet with a potential new ally, the governor of Candorus, who is also the target of Mara Jade for his treason to the Empire. Get set for some classic trilogy era adventures when it comes out on July 19 in hardcover and ebook.

The man responsible for jump-started the Expanded Universe (and thus getting many of us in or back into fans) is now on Facebook! Believe it or not, it’s his first official page in… Ever! We’re happy to see him, so go forth and ‘Like!’

You can let him know who you’d like to see featured in a short story, provided Dark Force Rising and The Last Command get the annotation treatment…

In the comments, he reveals a little about the story that will be in the new Heir to the Empire: “The story in Heir (“Crisis of Faith”) does have Fel in it. The story also acts as a link between Choices of One and Heir to the Empire.” Also, “Pellaeon plays a major role” in Choices of One.

Del Rey has tweaked the release schedule again… This time, Zahn’s Choices of One moves back to the original date of July 19th, while the Heir to the Empire anniversary edition moves up slightly to September 6.

Drew Karpyshyn’s The Old Republic: Revan jumps back a month to November 15. Meanwhile, on his blog, Karpyshyn compares game Revan to book Revan.

Del Rey announced a few schedule tweaks on Facebook today. The changes are due to “an adjustment to the book schedule as dictated by our publisher.”

Moving up are Zahn’s Choices of One (from July 19th to July 12th – the same day as one of the year’s most anticipated fantasy) and Golden’s Fate of the Jedi: Ascension (From August 23 to August 9.)

The pushbacks are just a tad more dramatic, sadly. Heir to the Empire: 20th Anniversary Edition moves the most, from June 28 to September 13 — the same week as the Blu-Rays. Kemp’s Riptide goes almost a full month, from September 27 to October 25.